Thursday, August 31, 2017

August. The last full month of summer- and my thirties- blasted by, but hey. It was a fun one.

Last night. Had a great time with the goobs. Went up to Jane’s school for an ice cream social, played on the school playground, hung out with some of the neighborhood crew, and made it home in time to watch a show before bed. Bonus: they were well behaved (mostly) the whole time.

Saving money. It’s crazy to think that since late December, the absolute most I’ve gone out to eat for lunch is once a week- and most weeks, I bring lunch each day. Before December, for years, it was pretty much the exact opposite. The amount of cash I am no longer hemorrhaging on shitty food is truly astounding.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Rough night. George was up wailing and calling me at four in the morning, followed by Jane falling out of bed an hour later. Luckily I had the auto-brew set on the coffee maker.

Major rager at 170. Had a great time skating the ditch yesterday afternoon. Perfect overcast sky and no humidity made it hard to leave. Hopefully hitting it again today if the rain holds off.

Vinyl countdown. Ordered a 180-gram copy of “A Matter of Life and Death” on eBay last night, thus completing the vinyl collection of Iron Maiden albums I’m thanked on. I mean, come on. I can’t not own these.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Juxtaposition. Earlier this month I saw Iron Maiden play to about 20,000 people at an outdoor amphitheater. Last night I saw Blaze Bayley, their singer for 5 years in the late nineties, play to maybe 40 people in a dive bar. Both shows were awesome.

Fun with the goobs. Impromptu neighborhood pizza party at the playground, riding bikes in the parking lot down the street with Jane, Happy Joe’s for games and ice cream, backyard action, jigsaw puzzles and candyland.

Friday, August 25, 2017

Tony Hawk at MoFo. Looks like the birdman himself will be in town in September for the grand opening of the Peter Mathews skate park expansion. How awesome is that? I’ll definitely be splitting a bit early from work that day.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Bikeage. My FCR3 is at Big Shark getting some much-needed work done, so bike commuting will be off the table until at least September 7th.- at least, on that bike. Bummer for sure, but it’s way overdue.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Busy season. It’s picking up big time at work, which is both a blessing and a curse. Good for the bank account, bad for the sanity.

Pull-out couch. I’ve spent the last couple of nights on it while Lisa becomes non-contagious, and I’m not complaining. That thing is way more comfortable than any couch-bed has the right to be.

George. I think he’s finally starting to get into a “dad” phase, which is awesome, because he’s been pretty much 100% mom his whole life. It all evens out eventually, but it’s awesome to be getting some newfound attention from my little dude.

Cool stuff. Evening at the playground with Janey, Santa Cruz spring ’18 reissues (metallic black Natas panther!), two for one NOS Rectors at Old School Skates, good leftovers.

Five years ago tonight. My old band played the biggest local show we ever did, where we co-headlined the Pageant with Sleepy Kitty on a weekend night and drew a huge crowd, filling the floor and much of the balcony. In hindsight, it was all downhill from there.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Last night. With Lisa down for the count battling out-of-nowhere strep throat, I had the kids all to myself. We hit the playground, saw some neighbor friends, and said goodnight to the ducks. They held it together pretty well despite being tired and crabby.

Bike work. Hitting Big Shark after work today to pick up some tubes for the Giant, with plans for a Thursday and Friday pedal commute. Also did some work on the Dyno yesterday evening; swapped out the Dominator for the original GT seat, cleaned it up and aired it for a backyard ride at sundown.

The eclipse. Infinitely cooler than I was expecting it to be. Totally amazing. The whole company was out on the lawn watching. Pretty unbelievable experience. I did manage to score some glasses from a co-worker and luckily didn’t have to use my Eclipsatron 5000.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Eclipse. I was not able to replace my potentially-defective pair, so the most I’ll be able to do will be marvel at it being totally dark outside at 1 pm and watch this video.

Flat tire. My back tube popped on the way home Friday, and I stupidly didn’t have a spare with me as I’d used my last one on my front tire a few weeks back. Luckily Lisa was able to come pick me up and we all went out for Mexican, so everything worked out.

Sunday morning shredding. Hit the Larimore pump track for a bit with Andy and followed that up with a trip out to the Slab for some additional gnar. Skating rules.

School days. A little bit of a rough start last week for Jane, but by Friday she was loving it. In addition to having four neighborhood kids in her class, she’s already making a bunch of new friends and getting used to the routine, and couldn’t wait to go back today. I’m proud of her.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Torrential downpour. It rained harder and longer yesterday than it has in months. Naturally, this occurred exactly on my drive home when I had to pick up both kids. And of course the basement is wet, because that’s just how it is. Good for the garden if nothing else.

Solar eclipse sale. We got an email yesterday telling us the solar eclipse glasses we purchased online were defective and would explode your eyeballs if utilized for their intended purpose. So, if anyone is looking for a cheap set that will do irreparable corneal damage, hit me up.

First day of school. Janey had a good one, by and large. She was tired and crabby by the end of the day, and a little confused by the whole experience, but none the worse for wear.

Thrift score. Stopped by Red Racks yesterday afternoon just to kill some time at lunch and ended up finding a $1.99 complete with Spitfires and Frontage trucks. I obviously need this like I need a lobotomy, but for pocket change? You can’t pass that up.

Lake of the Ozarks. Had a blast at the lake with the family for the last few days. Got in a few boat rides, did a bunch of swimming, and took Jane down to the strip for some games, rides, and ice cream. We even had a lake house all to ourselves! Already looking forward to next summer.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Jury duty. Got the dreaded envelope in the mail yesterday. This will be, I believe, my fifth time doing jury duty since I moved to the city almost twenty years ago. It’s really not that bad, just ultimately boring as hell.

Quote of the day. “The president alone has the authority to launch nuclear weapons, the only restraint being the advice of senior advisors who might be present at the time of crisis, and Donald Trump has shown repeated contempt for informed and wise counsel.” –Gordon Humphrey

Cool stuff. Starbucks Guatemalan special roast, ASG on Spotify, four consecutive evenings at the playground, Ranchito with Tom, fresh figs.

Long weekend action. Checking out the Larimore Park pump track, possibly going to Melvins at the Ready Room, and spending a couple of days relaxing, boating, and swimming with the crew at the lake.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

This is why I like bikes. Found out this morning while getting an oil change that that my battery, under warranty from AAA, is almost dead. Of course, AAA for some reason can’t get me a new one, so I get to go back to the oil change place at lunch, pay for a battery, fill out a bunch of forms, and wait 4-6 weeks for a reimbursement. Solid.

Three nights at the playground. The best way to wear out two kids hyped up from a day of devouring juice and yogurt-covered pretzels.

Gotta look at the big picture. It's true that we as a country are currently facing the chilling reality of an intellectually stunted, easily manipulated and woefully inexperienced leader with no empathy, common sense or impulse control engaging in an off-the-cuff game of nuclear chicken against a contemptible madman. But hey, at least we don't have that corrupt Killary in office right now, what with her lifetime in politics, extensive background as secretary of state, and ability to formulate complete sentences. Amiright?

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Morning roll. Couldn’t ride in today due to having to drive kids around, but I got the Performer out for an airing-up and quick few laps around the backyard. I need to get that thing out to Figure 8 again soon.

Hit the ditch. Afternoon skate session at 170 with Brian today was killer. Hadn’t been there in a week or so. Stuck a couple of new tricks on the block, including no complies to tail and disaster, respectively.

Rad hookup. A buddy of mine who works at Powell Peralta sent me a Friends and Family coupon code which essentially enabled me to pick up a new Barbee hydrant deck and get a Nicky Guerrero Mask at no charge.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Bike commuting. Great ride in. With seven solid weeks of summer left, there’s plenty of time for another couple of heat waves, so I’m going to take as much advantage of this unseasonable weather as possible.

Park nights. Had a blast at the playground with the kids last night. Played some basketball with George, taught Jane how to jump up and grab tree branches, and got in some quality swing time. It was so nice out it was hard to leave.

Netflix. Currently into new episodes of Ozark, Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later, and the third season of Voltron: Legendary Defender. All awesome.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Movie night. It looked like we might actually make it all the way through, but the drizzle kicked in right about when Ray Kinsella went back in time to meet Moonlight Graham. Still, great turnout, and amazing weather while it lasted.

Quote of the day. “It took the Republicans six months to start wondering whether the man who talked about grabbing women and discussed his penis size during a presidential debate is perhaps not the world-shaping genius he made himself out to be.” -Hunter, Daily Kos

Friday, August 4, 2017

Bike commute. I was only able to get one day in this week, but at least it happened on what is quite possibly the nicest August day in recorded history. Had to be in the mid-sixties this morning for the ride in. Unreal.

Ramp progress. Little bit at a time. Got the deck built last night. Not really a proper deck, as such, but big enough to give you something to ride up on/keep you from falling off the back. Hoping to have the whole thing done by the end of the weekend.

The basement. Cleaned off the workbench and took a few odds and ends out to the garbage. The basement is the final frontier of the house- overcluttered with junk, kid stuff we’ll never use again, and a wall of Tupperware tubs that we could probably cut in half.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Framed up. Got the skeleton of the backyard ramp all put together and it looks good. Just have to build out a little deck, slap on a layer of plywood and figure out how to cut a 3.5’ piece of PVC lengthwise for the coping and it’ll be ready to shred.

Ban This. Jane was made to endure about 15 minutes of old school skate videos before I turned on Bubble Guppies this morning. Sorry kid, that’s what you get for coming downstairs at 6 am.

Lost rock jams. Found a tape of two pretty well-recorded versions of my old (old) band’s first couple of songs. I guess we did them on the four-track. Side two features a mock jazz slam-poetry recording thing we did of one of our ex-bass player’s old songs that had terrible lyrics and we never actually used.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

DIY quarterpipe. Heading to Home Depot today to get some 2x4s to brace up those little quarterpipe transition pieces I found. Think I’m going with 3.5 feet wide- big enough to mess around on, small enough to transport in the van. Four feet would be ideal, but at that point it pretty much can’t go anywhere.

Rained out at the playground. A planned evening of running the kids ragged at the park was cut short by drizzle, but at least we got a little bit of action in before bedtime.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

August highlights. Clifton Park movie night, four-day mini vacation to the lake, Jane’s first day of school, Blaze Bayley at Fubar, as much skating and riding as possible, and generally enjoying the last (full) month of summer.

Solo daddin’. Taking care of both goobers until Thursday afternoon. Microwave quesadillas, a couple of trips to the playground and some Trolls on Netflix are on the horizon.

Quote of the day. “All he wanted in life was to be this close to power. He gets there and can't make it two weeks, and in the intervening time, he loses everything. This whole Mooch saga is Shakespearean.” -my brother